Soon after I'd posted the update last Saturday, I had a phone call from work that we had a fire. As the person responsible for Health and Safety, that meant that all plans were abandoned for the day, and I headed in. I eventually got home well past midnight and have spent most of the last week dealing with the consequences. It's not often you make the national news.
To answer the most common questions I've had this week: everyone got out quickly, safely and unhurt and we do not know the cause of the fire yet [1].
Having been responsible for a high hazard chemicals site in the past, I had a good understanding of what the emergency services do, their actions and expectations. I've exercised with them in the past (indeed, with some of the teams that arrived here), and paid off for me. However, all that preparation and training still didn't give a true impression of the sheer professionalism and dedication of the firefighters, police, and ambulance service.
Most of my interaction and work was with West Yorkshire Fire Service, and they were amazing. I cannot praise them highly enough. We often have the culture of criticising our government services, but in this case, it would be completely wrong.
I have nothing but respect for the men and women of the blue lights who responded to us.
8 February 2020
[1] Not that I'd be in a position to discuss that in a public space, but we genuinely don't.
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